HOW TO MAKE A KILLING
(director/writer: John Patton Ford; screenwriters: based on the Roy Horniman novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” Robert Hamer filmed it as “Kind Hearts and Coronets”; cinematographer: Todd Benhazi; editor: Harrison Atkins; music: Emile Mosseri; cast: Jessica Henwick (Ruth, Noah’s gf), Glen Powell (Becket Redfellow), Adrian Lukis (Father Morris, Priest), Raff Law (Taylor), Margaret Qualley (Julia Steinway), Bill Camp (Warren Redfellow), Zach Woods (Noah Redfellow), Topher Grace (Steven Redfellow), Bianca Amato (Cassandra Redfellow), Nell Williams (Mary Redfellow), Ed Harris (Whitlaw Redfellow, Mary’s father), Maggie Toomey (Young Julie), Grady Wilson (Young Becket), Sean C. Michael (Butler), Damien Wantenaar (Cellist), Stevel Marc (FBI agent); Runtime: 105; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin; A24; 2026)
“Unnecessary remake.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A black comedy about a guy who murders his family for the inheritance money of $28 billion dollars. It’s loosely based on the British classic from Roy Horniman’s 1907 novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” which Robert Hamer filmed as “Kind Hearts and Coronets” In 1949. John Patton Ford (“Emily the Criminal”) is the writer and director of this unnecessary remake. The story moves from Edwardian England to modern-day New York (filmed in Cape Town, South Africa).
Becket Redfellow (as a child Grady Wilson/as an adult Glen Powell) is disowned by his wealthy New York family when his unwed teenage mother Mary (Nell Williams) is impregnated by a cellist (Damien Wantenaar), who soon dies in a car accident. Mary is forced out of the family Long Island mansion by her outraged and unforgiving father Whitlaw Redfellow (Ed Harris) and moves to New Jersey with the kid, where she becomes a single parent and takes a low-level job. As an adult, when his mom dies and he leaves foster care, Becket becomes a clerk in a NY men’s store and decides to kill his relatives to get revenge and collect his inheritance, where he’s eighth in line.
While on Death Row, with just a few hours before his execution, Becket tells the priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis), his life story as the film goes into flashback and follows his voiceover.
Becket deals with questioning FBI investigators, conflicts with his family that are settled on a one-by-one basis, and a greedy ex-girlfriend Julia (Margaret Qualley) from childhood who wants some of his inheritance money when he meets her again as an adult.
Becket gets rid of six of the relatives in the inheritance chain ahead of him in absurd ways–as he kills his playboy Wall Street cousin Taylor (Raff Law); his pretentious photographer cousin Noah (Zach Woods); his crooked hypercritical pastor cousin Steven (Topher Grace); his Aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato) and Uncle McArthur (Sean Cameron Michael); while his Uncle Warren (Bill Camp), Noah’s likable father who helped him in his career move, dies naturally from a heart attack. He also begins a relationship with the kind-hearted Ruth (Jessica Henwick), Noah’s school teacher girlfriend.
The comedy meant to be lighthearted is strained. The calculating, charming and smiling anti-hero meant to be sympathetic is not, and the supporting relative characters meant to be funny are mostly a mess.
It’s a disposable, satirical and morally questionable film that lacks tension and laughably remakes a great dark comedy into a mediocre one. 
REVIEWED ON 3/4/2026 GRADE: C
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